sb. and a. [f. UTILIT-Y, after sbs. and adjs. in -arian. Hence Pg. and It. utilitario, F. utilitaire.]
A. sb. One who holds, advocates, or supports the doctrine of utilitarianism; one who considers utility the standard of whatever is good for man; also, a person devoted to mere utility or material interests.
1781. Bentham, Lett., Wks. 1843, X. 92/1. He is a utilitarian, a naturalist, a chemist, a physician.
1821. Galt, Ann. Parish, xxxv. I thought they had more sense than to secede from Christianity to become Utilitarians.
1835. Wordsw., Yarrow Revisited, etc. 326. A right in the people (not to be gainsaid by utilitarians and economists) to public support when [etc.].
1860. Maury, Phys. Geog. (Low), iv. 268. The utilitarian who compares the water-power that the falls of Niagara would afford if applied to machinery.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), IV. 29. We are therefore justified in calling Socrates the first utilitarian.
B. 1. adj. Of philosophy, principles, etc.: Consisting in or based upon utility; spec. that regards the greatest good or happiness of the greatest number as the chief consideration or rule of morality.
1802. Bentham, Lett., Wks. 1843, X. 390. A new religion would be an odd sort of a thing without a name: accordingly there ought to be one for it—at least for the professors of it. Utilitarian … would be the more propre.
1814. New Brit. Theatre, I. 50. The sublime ideas of the utilitarian philosophy. Ibid., 227. The philanthropy of the true utilitarian principles.
1841. Gladstone, State in Relat. Ch. (ed. 4), I. 107. A reason quite irreconcilable with the utilitarian theories.
1861. Mill, Utilit., iv. (1863), 51. The utilitarian doctrine is, that happiness is … the only thing desirable, as an end.
1869. Lecky, Europ. Mor., I. 18. They were at once profoundly antipathetical to Utilitarian morals.
b. Of or pertaining to utility; relating to mere material interests.
1830. Westm. Rev., Jan., 3. So far from its being proscribed by Utilitarian notions, they demand its existence.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., x. (1856), 77. Their application to the fishing grounds … would be a matter of large utilitarian interest.
1859. W. S. Coleman, Woodlands, 58. Turning from the picturesque or romantic, to the utilitarian view of this tree.
1873. Mrs. Brookfield, Not a Heroine, I. 23. From a utilitarian point of view.
c. In quasi-depreciative use: Having regard to mere utility rather than beauty, amenity, etc.
1847. H. Miller, First Impr. Eng., xvi. 294. For the hill-top cottage … I found a modern hard-cast farm-house, with a square of offices attached, all exceedingly utilitarian, well kept, stiff, and disagreeable.
1876. Miss Braddon, J. Haggard’s Dau., I. 29. A good garden of the old-fashioned utilitarian type.
2. Of persons: Holding or advocating utilitarian views, principles, etc.; aiming at, supporting, or advancing utilitarianism; also, preferring mere utility to beauty or amenity.
1802. [see 1].
1828. Bentham, Lett., Wks. 1843, XI. 2/2. The accomplished utilitarian statesman.
1834. K. H. Digby, Mores Cath., V. x. 360. The favour of utilitarian philosophers, or of self-interested reformers.
1862. Sir B. Brodie, Psychol. Inq., II. i. 32. The mere utilitarian philosopher, having his views limited to some immediate practical result.
1873. Mill, Autobiog., 79. [In the winter 1822–3] the name I gave to the society I had planned was the Utilitarian Society. It was the first time that any one had taken the title of Utilitarian; and the term made its way into the language from this humble source.
3. Of times: Marked or characterized by prevalence of utilitarian doctrine, principles, or views. (Freq, with age.)
1828. Carlyle, Goethe, ¶ 16. In these hard, unbelieving utilitarian days.
1839. Morn. Herald, 3 Sept. The cold ‘philosophy’ of a money-getting utilitarian age.
1854. Poultry Chron., II. 251/1. In these utilitarian days, every thing seems to … play its proper part.
Hence Utilitarianly adv. rare.
1878. Fraser’s Mag., XVII. 665. A new tower … built, utilitarianly, of common yellow brick.
1878. Montclair (NJ) Times, 27 June, 3/2. Some of the faces were too utilitarianly clever to approach physical beauty.
